COQUITLAM, B.C., May 14, 2024 – Coquitlam won first-place for the ground-breaking use of Visual Plan, a digital asset management tool, at the national Canadian Network of Asset Managers conference in Edmonton last week.
The Visual Plan initiative supports Coquitlam’s commitment to innovation and continuous improvement. Last night, Coquitlam City Council voted unanimously to also submit Coquitlam’s Visual Plan initiative for a 2024 Union of BC Municipalities Community Excellence Award. By embracing state-of-the-art technology to enhance decision making and operational efficiency, the City is supporting a sustainable and resilient future.
Innovative Asset Management
The City of Coquitlam owns and oversees an asset portfolio of more than 120 buildings, covering 93,000 square meters. Looking for a more efficient and sustainable way to manage these assets, Coquitlam launched its Visual Plan initiative in mid 2023. It aims to create a digital twin of the City’s facilities, and enables City staff to virtually walk through buildings.
Coquitlam is one of the first municipalities to use Visual Plan, which previously has been used primarily in construction management. This strategic and innovative application allows for increased communication with trades and contractors, who are able to virtually explore floor plans and get accurate measurements. It also optimizes facility management, as staff is able to oversee and optimize maintenance work, reduce site visits, and plan preventative maintenance, upgrades and renovations.
Enhanced Decision-Making and Efficiency
Visual Plan takes a 3D scan of each buildings’ interior, so that users can see a 360-degree view of everything inside the buildings. The tool links resources such as manuals, photos, blueprints and training videos to specific assets, all in one central database. This enhances the decision-making processes, improves efficiency and lessens the risk of errors by providing easy access to records. Reducing the number of on-site visits also helps to mitigate labour and fleet cost escalation as well as a lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
To date, 35% of the City’s inventory has been uploaded to the cloud-based platform. Additional city staff are being trained to operate and maintain the new system, which should have all City assets included by 2026.
Media contact:
Kevan Cornes
Facilities Asset Manager
City of Coquitlam
FacilitiesCustomerService@coquitlam.ca
604-927-3575
We acknowledge with gratitude and respect that the name Coquitlam was derived from the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ (HUN-kuh-MEE-num) word kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (kwee-KWET-lum) meaning “Red Fish Up the River”. The City is honoured to be located on the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm traditional and ancestral lands, including those parts that were historically shared with the q̓ic̓əy̓ (kat-zee), and other Coast Salish Peoples.